Pruning Mature Trees 113 



controlled, the same end may be more easily attained, 

 no doubt, by proper manipulation of the irrigation water. 



Both the season at which the wound is made and the 

 character of the cut has an influence on the healing process. 

 The pruner should remember that all food material 

 capable of healing a wound is taking a downward course 

 through the inner bark, and that to heal well, a wound 

 must be in position to intercept the downward flow of sap 

 from the foliage. When a limb is to be removed entirely, 

 the cut should be at the union with and parallel to the 

 surface from which the limb arises. When limbs are to 

 be headed-back, they should be cut to a side limb and not 

 to a bare stub. Wounds naturally heal best when made 

 at a season when growth is most active, but, with the 

 possible exception of wounds made in early winter, and 

 subjected to a long season of drying, the season at which 

 the wound is made practically has no important bearing 

 upon the healing process. The grower, who has a small 

 orchard that will permit of such a practice, should delay 

 the pruning until as near the opening of the growing season 

 as possible. 



The influence of pruning on the fruit-bearing habit of 

 the tree has been briefly mentioned, but the following 

 pages will show how a fruit-bearing habit may, to a certain 

 extent, dictate a course in pruning. The fruits with which 

 this discussion has to deal have two general types of 

 fruit-bearing: from terminal fruit-buds and from axil- 

 lary fruit-buds (Chapter VI). The first type of fruit- 

 bud is well represented in the apple and pear and the 

 latter in the stone-fruits. Trees that produce axillary 

 fruit-buds are naturally more prolific and require severe 

 i 



